Page 44 - The Indian EYE 040524
P. 44
IMMIGRATION APRIL 05, 2024 | The Indian Eye 44
The Application for Prevailing Wage
Determination and the Application for Permanent
Labor Certification – Siblings or Twins?
BY CYRUS D. MEHTA AND the employer can file Form Form 9089 can be filed as is required under Question swer “Yes” to F.d.3, which
9089, which takes 9 months soon as possible, the Nation- F.d.3. to “provide geograph- asks “Will travel be required
KAITLYN BOX*
to a year before a labor certi- al Prevailing Wage Center ic location and frequency of in order to perform the job
fication is issued. has begun to issue Requests travel” duties?” Then, under F.d.3.a.
he process for an em- The filing of Form 9089 for Information (RFI) after If the position requires where the employer is asked
ployer to sponsor a
Tnoncitizen employee sets the priority date, which the Form 9141 is filed to re- travel, Question F.d.3. to “provide [the] geograph-
ic location and frequency of
should be answered as spe-
determines where the non-
quest a prevailing wage de-
for permanent labor certi- citizen is in the queue un- termination, which have the cifically as possible. If the po- travel” the employer tends
fication is long and compli- der the Employment-Based potential to further delay the sition requires travel about to answer consistent with the
cated. The first step in the Second (EB-2) or Employ- overall labor certification once a month domestically Barbara Farmer Memo as
process for filing Form ETA ment-Based Third (EB-3) process. to meet clients, the employer follows: “Must be willing to
9089, Application for Perma- Preference. The filing of the In the Form 9141, the must specify under F.d.3 that relocate and work anywhere
nent Labor Certification, also Form 9089 can also provide position and the require- the position requires travel in the US.”
known as PERM, is to file the legal basis for filing an ments have to be provided once a month with the US Recently, the NPWC
Form ETA 9141, Request for H-1B extension beyond the in detail so that the Nation- to meet with clients. If such has been issuing an RFI on
Prevailing Wage Determina- six year limit if it is filed one al Prevailing Wage Center details are not provided in this response too stating:
tion. It takes about 6 months year before the sixth year (NPWC) can issue an appro- Form 9141, and instead, the Item F.d.3 states “Yes”,
for the National Prevailing under section 106(c) of the priate prevailing wage de- answer is “occasional travel and Item F.d.3a states the
Wage Center to issue the pre- American Competitiveness termination. For instance, if required” then the NPWC applicant “Must be willing to
vailing wage determination. in the 21st Century Act. the position requires travel, will issue an RFI asking for relocate and work anywhere
It is only after the prevailing As the Form 9141 is im- this too needs to be specified specific details as set forth in the U.S. ”
wage is determined, and re- perative in ensuring that the on Form 9141. Since June in the following example we Please clarify the fre-
cruitment is conducted, that
1, 2023, Form 9141 links have received on behalf of a quency of that travel.
to the new Form 9089, client: However, this response
automatically popu- Item F.d.3a states, “Fre- does not relate to travel be-
lating certain fields on quent travel required. ” cause the frequency of travel
the PERM application Please clarify if the occupa- is now known. The position,
form. Some of the infor- tion will require any national rather than requiring travel,
mation on Form 9141, or international travel, and requires the employee to be
such as the description the frequency of that travel. willing to relocate and work
of the offered position Your response should also anywhere.
and its requirements, confirm that the NPWC has At the AILA 2024
remain only on Form permission to correct your Spring Conference in Wash-
9141. Form ETA-9141 with the ington DC on March 22,
Practitioners have information you provide in 2024, Lindsey Baldwin, Di-
been receiving a Re- your response. rector, National Prevailing
quest for Information The employer is given Wage Center, clarified that
(RFI) after filing Form the choice to respond direct- the DOL is more interested
9141 requesting the ly to the RFI in the FLAG in knowing about travel in
employer to answer system or via e mail. The em- the Form 9141 than unan-
the travel requirement ployer must respond within ticipated job locations under
question with more 7 days. The employer is also the Barbara Farmer memo.
specificity. This could given the choice to withdraw She also said that the infor-
add further delays to and apply again too. mation in the Form 9141
m of the issuance of a pre- In the case of “roving does not have to match ev-
CYRUS D. MEHTA & PARTNERS PLLC vailing wage determi- employees”, the 1994 Bar- erything that is in the Form
bara Farmer Memo states 9089, and suggested that the
nation, which is taking
about six months, which that the employer’s main or Form 9141 and Form 9089
in turn would lead to de- headquarters (HQ) office may be siblings but they are
lays towards filing Form should be indicated as the not twins!
9089. Question F.d.3 on worksite when a job oppor- Given that the informa-
Form 9141 asks, “Will tunity will require a benefi- tion in the Form 9141 links
travel bs required in or- ciary to work in various lo- to the Form 9089, what if
der to perform the job cations throughout the U.S. the employer answers “No”
duties?” If the response that cannot be anticipated. to Question F.d.3 regrading
2 6th Floor is “Yes” to this ques- Even with roving employees, travel for a position that only
tion, then the employer the employer will tend to an- requires the ability to work
www.TheIndianEYE.com
